Dog Insurance: Insurance Agents Shouldn’t Miss Out on This Niche!
If you’re an insurance agent, you know just how specific the world of insurance can be. There’s insurance for just about anything. As an agent, you can use these various niches in insurance to boost your career. Exploring a niche segment rather than more mainstream lines means less competition and more chances of dominating that niche. If you’re an agent looking to specialize in a niche, you should explore the pet insurance sector. The pet health insurance industry, especially dog insurance, is growing in leaps and bounds.
According to the American Pet Products Association, Americans owned 89.7 million dogs in 2018. That’s a significant increase from 2015 when there were about 77.8 million registered dogs. Many millennials who are at peak reproductive age right now, are opting to take in pets instead of having children. The numbers imply that having a pet makes more financial sense than having children for millennials. They are not as financially stable as the generations before them, and children come with a myriad of costs. Those millennials who are having children are opting to have fewer children and are having them later in life. The birthrate in the U.S. is dropping consistently, and in 2018, it reached its lowest point in 32 years.
The decline in births corresponds with an uptick in pet ownership. Millennials make up the largest segment of pet owners. They treat their pets, especially dogs, as prized members of the household, and don’t hesitate to spend a premium on them. From buying high-end food to getting proper daycare for pets, they don’t cut corners when it comes to pets. Pet owners spent an astonishing $72.56 billion on pets in 2018 alone. This spending habit is part of the reason why dog insurance is growing.
Dog insurance holds the lion’s share of the pet insurance market. According to the National Pet Health Insurance Association, the total Gross Written Premium for pet health insurance in 2018 was $1.3 billion, which was a 24% increase from 2017. Out of that, dog insurance represented 88.9% of the whole. Dogs are more likely to develop diseases like cancer, skin issues, and stomach ailments. And it doesn’t stop with that. Dogs are also more prone to accidents since they are more active than cats and enjoy the outdoors more. They tend to need more visits to the vet. So, it’s not surprising that dog insurance is the most prominent coverage within the pet health insurance niche.
The number of pet owners purchasing dog insurance is bound to grow year after year. Dog owners are progressively humanizing their dogs. On social media, they are calling themselves “dog parents” and treating their dogs just like they would treat a child. Just as they would purchase healthcare for a spouse or another loved one, so too are they purchasing healthcare for their pets.
Taking all these factors into account, it’s evident that the pet health insurance niche is booming. The numbers make it apparent. Research conducted by Global Market Insights has predicted that by 2025, the pet insurance market revenue will surpass $10 billion. It would be wise for agents to leverage the pet health insurance niche, especially dog insurance.
